Any experiences of anovulatory cycle?

[futurity]

This is my second month of temping (and 6th month of TTC). Last month temping showed OV combined with positive OPK and CM. This month temps all over the place..no positives on OPK and not much CM! My ovulation could just be delayed but I have read you can get anovulatory cycles once in a while. I started taking vitamin supplements last month to help my short luteal phase so wonder whether that has caused the lack of OV or whether it is one of those things which is just a one off and OV will return next cycle? The optimist in me hopes that it is my body sorting itself out and that next month I will ovulate at the right time and that the luteal phase problem will be fixed and I will get pregnant!! The pessimist in me is scared that the vitamins are messing my cycle up even more than it was?

futurity, know how you feel. My temps are quite flat this month and have just posted on ...7 that I don't actually know where I am in my cycle. FF has changed from 11DPO down to 9DPO but I have had some cm on 3 different occasions along with small dips and slight rises. 9DPO would be right for last month but I am just not sure. With regard to taking vits, I started taking starflower oil a few months back but then stopped as my cycle went a bit strange and I just thought that I didn't want to interfere in my cycle too much. I have read that some people have got pg even though an OPK never went positive and temps are not always reliable so please do not rely on these totally. That's why you are told to have regular sex, as that is the most reliable way of getting pg. I stopped using an OPK for this reason as I can get lazy and not bd until the right time. This month have been more regular in that department!

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Hi,

The vitamins are not doing you any harm at all and anovulatory cycles can happen to normally fertile ovulating women. It is possible to have periods without ovulating.

The basic problem with both temp charting and OPK's (apart from the expense of these particular things) is that they are not reliable indicators of imminent ovulation. The supposed temp drop is more often than not irrelevant and temp charting can become stressful in its own right. With OPK's these measure the amount of LH hormone. These also work on two misleading principles namely a rise in LH is immediately followed by ovulation (not true) and that women have only one rise in LH every month (again far from the case). Not many docs or gynaes for that matter take much notice of such charts because they are so unreliable and particularly so if your cycle is irregular anyway.

If your cycles are irregular (i.e less than 21 days or more than 35 days OR with a variation of 4 or more days from month to month) this is likely to be caused by hormonal problems. These can be treated by a specialist.

You can always have a blood test done to have your hormone levels checked properly. Particular attention should be paid to your LH and FSH levels (these should ideally be the same).

HTH and good luck